Tag Archives: J. Warner Wallace on the Resurrection of Jesus

J. Warner Wallace was once an Atheist and a Cold-Case Detective. He is now a prolific author and speaker on presenting evidences for the cogency of the Christian world-view. What sets Wallace apart from other modern apologists is that he really puts the “cookies on the shelf” for the general reader to be exposed to great evidence in an understandable and interesting manner.

In this short book – one designed to be cheap and as a giveaway for Easter – Wallace approaches the subject of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection the same way he would investigate a homicide. The minimal facts that Wallace investigates are the following: (1) Jesus died on the cross and was buried; (2) Jesus’ tomb was empty, and no one ever produced His body; (3) Jesus’ disciples believed that they saw Jesus resurrected from the dead; (4) Jesus’ disciples were transformed following their alleged resurrection observations.

Next, Wallace proceeds to tackle the skeptical explanations that deny the above facts: (1) The Disciples were wrong about Jesus’ death; (2) The Disciples lied about the resurrection; (3) The Disciples were delusional; (4) The Disciples were fooled by an imposter; (5) The Disciples were influenced by limited spiritual sightings; (6) The Disciples observations were distorted later – with each of these six skeptical views Wallace demonstrates how each of these views contains at least four to six inherent problems tied to the argument.

The most logical explanation requires a belief in the supernatural: a belief that Jesus had the supernatural power to rise from the dead and thus Wallace defends the position that The Disciples were accurately reporting the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus. Wallace concludes his examination of the evidence with a very important point: “Moving from the most reasonable inference to a decision of trust…It’s one thing to ‘believe that’ Jesus rose from the dead and is who He said he was, but it’s another to ‘believe in’ Him as Savior. Every one of us, at some point in our investigation of the claims of Christianity, has to move from ‘belief that’ to ‘belief in.'”

Wallace’s little book is a great way to get the essence of the Christian message in the hands of the curious and skeptics alike. This is a short book that deserves a wide reading and should be bought in bulk as a giveaway – especially during Easter as we celebrate the great hope of the world – the One who lived, died, was buried, and raised so that we might have salvation by Him and through Him – the Lord Jesus Christ.